The Space Marines are the foremost heroes of mankind, tireless defenders of the Emperor’s realm, the Imperium. Genetically crafted to be the perfect warriors, and armed and armoured with the finest equipment in the galaxy, the Space Marines bring death to the alien, the traitor and the mutant. This collection highlights the heroes and the victories of these legendary warriors, collecting together the stories from three previous anthologies: Legends of the Space Marines, Heroes of the Space Marines and Victories of the Space Marines.

Mankind’s first contact with extraterrestrial life led to an incredible revelation. Their last may lead them to extinction.

Twenty years have passed since the mysterious Near-Earth Object nicknamed Keanu appeared in the night sky and transported an assortment of humans from all over Earth into its interior. There they discovered that Keanu was an immense long-range spaceship—and they were not its only inhabitants. They joined forces with the aliens called the Architects, who had come from a distant galaxy to seek help in fighting the vicious Reivers. And they defeated them—or so they thought.

Now Keanu has reestablished contact with Earth—and discovered that the Reivers have, in fact, taken over the planet, placing most of the population under their dominion. A few scattered pockets of humanity, constantly in danger of being assimilated, have mounted a resistance.

As the Reivers prepare a devastating strike against the Architects, Rachel Stewart, who grew up in Keanu, leads a small band of human survivors in an attempt to infiltrate the massive Reiver fortress in the American West. But their only hope for victory may yet be somewhere inside the NEO.

If the men and women still in Keanu cannot find it, humanity will be finished. And the galaxy will be next.

Riley, a veteran of interstellar war, is one of many beings from many different worlds aboard a ship on a pilgrimage that spans the galaxy. However, he is not journeying to achieve transcendence, a vague mystical concept that has drawn everyone else on the ship to this journey into the unknown at the far edge of the galaxy. His mission is to find and kill the prophet who is reputed to help others transcend. While their ship speeds through space, the voyage is marred by violence and betrayal, making it clear that some of the ship’s passengers are not the spiritual seekers they claim to be.

Like the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a number of those on the starship share their unique stories. But as tensions rise, Riley realizes that the ship is less like the Canterbury Tales and more like a harrowing, deadly ship of fools. When he becomes friendly with a mysterious passenger named Asha, he thinks she’s someone he can trust. However, like so many others on the ship, Asha is more than she appears. Uncovering her secrets could be the key to Riley’s personal quest, or make him question everything he thought he knew about Transcendentalism and his mission to stop it.

James Gunn’s Transcendental is a space adventure filled with excitement and intrigue that explores the nature of what unifies all beings.

Black Library books always have awesome illustrations. But the others don’t do bad either. All this covers have one problem though, including Space Marines Omnibus, and that’s week composition and poor tipographic work.

Trascendental has that huge black space that doesn’t do anything, you could move the title there and it would loook better. Heaven’s Fall has great colours but the title seems like it was stuck in the last moment, without a lot of thinking. So, all in all, I’m staying with Space Marines Omnibus.

Like the Transcendental cover best. I’ll be reading Heavens Fall since I read the first 2 in the series. And may read the Gunn-I read a lot of his stuff in the 60’s. Wouldn’t read Space Marines unless someone paid me to.

Space Marines: If you’re the sort who likes this genre, you gotta love that cover. Nothing says “macho” like shoulders that are bigger than your head. And are those spent shell casings that are filling the air? BRASS spent shell casings? Who would dare call that goofy and anachronistic? It’s just too darn cool! Just saying the phrase sounds so deliciously pornographic: “Spent shell casings,” “spent shell casings,” “spent shell casings.” “The ground was littered with spent shell casings.” Makes me want a post-coital cigarette.

Heaven’s Fall: (The sequel to Heaven’s Summer?”) Looks kind of dreary and post-apocalyptic. Having polluted-looking air as the major element in a composition doesn’t make for a terribly exciting cover illustration, IMO.

I kind of like the Transcendental cover; A feeling of focus and consistent theme, and the star up in the black sky speaks of destination. I just hope that guy in the foreground is on a slidewalk; otherwise he’s got a heck of a long walk ahead of him to get to the whateveritis.

Humble Bundle has got a new Post-Apocalyptic ebook bundle up for grabs and if you're not familiar with Humble Bundle, here's the scoop: You can pay what you want to get a great selection of DRM-free eBooks in multiple formats — and your contributions can be split to your liking between authors, charitable foundations, or the Humble Bundle crew. Continue Reading →

REVIEW SUMMARY: Another great one from the master MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An alien hive mind tries to conquer Earth MY REVIEW: PROS: Superb writing style; lean, descriptive prose. CONS: A smidgen more esoteric than his other stuff BOTTOM LINE: A great quick read and a fantastic classic I love Theodore Sturgeon's writing. He is absolutely unmatched for his taut Continue Reading →

Courtesy of Viking, SF Signal has 3 sets of Danielle Trussoni's Angelology duology (Angelology and Angelopolis) to give away to 3 lucky SF Signal readers in the U.S.! Here is what each book is about and how you can win:

The table of contents for the upcoming anthology Pandemonium: The Lowest Heaven edited by Edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin has been posted. But first, here's the book description: The Lowest Heaven is new anthology of contemporary science fiction published in partnership with the Royal Observatory Greenwich to coincide with Visions of the Universe, a major exhibition of Continue Reading →